How do I create a recursive query in MSSQL 2005? - sql

Question

Let's say I have the following table:
CustomerID ParentID Name
========== ======== ====
1 null John
2 1 James
3 2 Jenna
4 3 Jennifer
5 3 Peter
6 5 Alice
7 5 Steve
8 1 Larry
I want to retrieve in one query all the descendants of James (Jenna,Jennifer,Peter, Alice, Steve).
Thanks,
Pablo.

Answer 1

On SQL Server 2005 you can use CTEs (Common Table Expressions) :
with Hierachy(CustomerID, ParentID, Name, Level)
as
(
select CustomerID, ParentID, Name, 0 as Level
from Customers c
where c.CustomerID = 2 -- insert parameter here
union all
select c.CustomerID, c.ParentID, c.Name, ch.Level + 1
from Customers c
inner join Hierachy ch
on c.ParentId = ch.CustomerID
)
select CustomerID, ParentID, Name
from Hierachy
where Level > 0

Answer 2

For bottom up use mathieu's answer with a little modification:
with Hierachy(CustomerID, ParentID, Name, Level)
as
(
select CustomerID, ParentID, Name, 0 as Level
from Customers c
where c.CustomerID = 2 -- insert parameter here
union all
select c.CustomerID, c.ParentID, c.Name, ch.Level + 1
from Customers c
inner join Hierachy ch
-- EDITED HERE --
on ch.ParentId = c.CustomerID
-----------------
)
select CustomerID, ParentID, Name
from Hierachy
where Level > 0

Answer 3

You can't do recursion in SQL without stored procedures. The way to solve this is using Nested Sets, they basically model a tree in SQL as a set.
Notice that this will require a change to the current data model or possibly figuring out how to create a view on the original model.
Postgresql example (using very few postgresql extensions, just SERIAL and ON COMMIT DROP, most RDBMSes will have similar functionality):
Setup:
CREATE TABLE objects(
id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
name TEXT,
lft INT,
rgt INT
);
INSERT INTO objects(name, lft, rgt) VALUES('The root of the tree', 1, 2);
Adding a child:
START TRANSACTION;
-- postgresql doesn't support variables so we create a temporary table that
-- gets deleted after the transaction has finished.
CREATE TEMP TABLE left_tmp(
lft INT
) ON COMMIT DROP; -- not standard sql
-- store the left of the parent for later use
INSERT INTO left_tmp (lft) VALUES((SELECT lft FROM objects WHERE name = 'The parent of the newly inserted node'));
-- move all the children already in the set to the right
-- to make room for the new child
UPDATE objects SET rgt = rgt + 2 WHERE rgt > (SELECT lft FROM left_tmp LIMIT 1);
UPDATE objects SET lft = lft + 2 WHERE lft > (SELECT lft FROM left_tmp LIMIT 1);
-- insert the new child
INSERT INTO objects(name, lft, rgt) VALUES(
'The name of the newly inserted node',
(SELECT lft + 1 FROM left_tmp LIMIT 1),
(SELECT lft + 2 FROM left_tmp LIMIT 1)
);
COMMIT;
Display a trail from bottom to top:
SELECT
parent.id, parent.lft
FROM
objects AS current_node
INNER JOIN
objects AS parent
ON
current_node.lft BETWEEN parent.lft AND parent.rgt
WHERE
current_node.name = 'The name of the deepest child'
ORDER BY
parent.lft;
Display the entire tree:
SELECT
REPEAT(' ', CAST((COUNT(parent.id) - 1) AS INT)) || '- ' || current_node.name AS indented_name
FROM
objects current_node
INNER JOIN
objects parent
ON
current_node.lft BETWEEN parent.lft AND parent.rgt
GROUP BY
current_node.name,
current_node.lft
ORDER BY
current_node.lft;
Select everything down from a certain element of the tree:
SELECT
current_node.name AS node_name
FROM
objects current_node
INNER JOIN
objects parent
ON
current_node.lft BETWEEN parent.lft AND parent.rgt
AND
parent.name = 'child'
GROUP BY
current_node.name,
current_node.lft
ORDER BY
current_node.lft;

Answer 4

Unless I'm missing something, recursion isn't necessary...
SELECT d.NAME FROM Customers As d
INNER JOIN Customers As p ON p.CustomerID = d.ParentID
WHERE p.Name = 'James'